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Function word classes

Survey of function words
Function words can also be categorized in different classes: determiners, pronouns,
auxiliary verbs, prepositions, adverbial particles, coordinators, and subordinators. To
distinguish these classes briefly, we will look at their semantic function and syntactic
role, list their main forms, and consider their subclasses.
1.1 Determiners
Determiners normally precede nouns, and are used to help clarify the meaning of
the noun. The most important are the following:
-The definite article the indicates that the referent (i.e. whatever is referred
to)
is assumed to be known by the speaker and the person being spoken to (or
addressee).
-The indefinite article a or an makes it clear that the referent is one member
of
a class (a book).
-Demonstrative determiners indicate that the referents are 'near to' or 'away
from' the speaker's immediate context (this book, that book, etc.).
-Possessive determiners tell us who or what the noun belongs to (my book,
your book, her book, etc.).
-Quantifiers specify how many or how much of the noun there is (every book,
some books, etc.).
There are also determiner-like uses of wh-words and numerals (see 2.5).
1.2 Pronouns
Pronouns fill the position of a noun or a whole noun phrase. The reference of a
pronoun is usually made clear by its context. There are eight major classes of
pronoun:
-Personal pronouns refer to the speaker, the addressee(s), and other entities:
I won't tell you how it ended. (conv)
Personal pronouns are used far more frequently than the other classes of pronouns.
-Demonstrative pronouns refer to entities which are 'near to' v. 'away from'
the speaker's context, like demonstrative determiners (2.4.1):
This is Bay City.
I like those.
-Reflexive pronouns refer back to a previous noun phrase, usually the subject
of the clause:
I taught myself.
She never introduced herself?
-Reciprocal pronouns, like reflexive pronouns, refer to a previous noun
phrase, but indicate that there is a mutual relationship:
Yeah they know each other pretty well.
-Possessive pronouns (such as mine, yours, his) are closely related to
possessive determiners (my, your, his, etc.), and usually imply a missing noun head:
Is this yours, or mine?
Ours is better than theirs.
These possessive pronouns include the meaning of a head noun. For example, yours
might refer to your book or your pen.
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-Indefinite pronouns have a broad, indefinite meaning. Some of them are

compound words consisting of quantifier + general noun (everything, nobody,
someone, etc.). Others consist of a quantifier alone (all, some, many, etc.):
Somebody tricked me.
That's all I know.
-Relative pronouns (who, whom, which, that) introduce a relative clause
I had more friends that were boys.
He's the guy who told me about this.
-Interrogative pronouns ask questions about unknown entities:
What did he say?
I just wonder who it was.
Most relative and interrogative pronouns (e.g. who, which, what) belong to
the class of wh-words .

1.3 Auxiliary verbs

There are two kinds of auxiliary verbs: primary auxiliaries and modal auxiliaries.
Both are 'auxiliary verbs' in the sense that they are added to a main verb to help
build verb phrases.
Auxiliary verbs precede the main or lexical verb in a verb phrase: will arrive; has
arrived; is arriving may be arriving, etc. (See 8.7 and 13.5.2 for cases where an
auxiliary occurs without a main verb.) Some common auxiliaries have contracted
forms-'s, 're, 've, 'd, 'll -used particularly in speech.

A- Primary auxiliaries
There are three primary auxiliaries: be, have, and do. They have inflections like
lexical verbs, but are normally unstressed. The same verbs be, have, and do can
also act as main verbs.
Base Present tense Past tense Ing participle Ed participle
Be Is,am,are Was;were Being Been
Have Has;have Had Having had
do Does;do Did doing done

In various ways, the primary auxiliaries show how the main verb is to be understood
(examples below are from conversation):
-The auxiliary have is used to form the perfect aspect: I've done that once
-The auxiliary be is used for the progressive aspect or 'continuous' aspect:
She was thinking about me .
-The auxiliary be is also used for the passive voice: It was sent over there
-The auxiliary do is used in negative statements and in questions; this is known
as do insertion: Did he sell it? This doesn't make sense .

B-_MODAL AUXILLARIES

There are nine modal auxiliary verbs. As their name suggests, they are largely
concerned with expressing 'modality', such as possibility, necessity, prediction, and
volition. The modals are:
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will can shall may must would could should might

Each modal in the lower row is historically the past tense of the modal directly
above it. For example, would was historically the past tense of will. (Must has no
matching historical past tense.) Nowadays, though, the relationship of will to would,
or can to could, etc. has less to do with tense than with modal meaning (see 6.9-10).
In practice the modals can be regarded as invariable function words, with no
inflections such as -ing and -ed. The modals will and would have contracted
forms ('ll and 'd), and most modals have a contracted negative form ending in
n't, such as wouldn't. Modals occur as the first verb in a clause, and are followed
by the base form of another verb, usually the main verb (underlined below):
I can here quietly.
They would a different view.

1.4 Prepositions

Prepositions are linking words that introduce prepositional phrases. The

prepositional complement following a preposition is generally a noun phrase, so
prepositions can also be seen as linking words that connect other structures with
noun phrases. For example:
Eleven fifty with the tip .
And she's in a new situation.
that picture of mother .
She's still on the phone.

Most prepositions are short, invariable forms: e.g. about, after, around, as, at, by,
down, for, from, into, like, of, off, on, round, since, than, to, towards, with, without.

In the following examples, the preposition is in bold, and the prepositional

phrase it introduces is enclosed in [I. The noun phrase functioning as prepositional
complement is underlined:
He'll go [with one of the kids].
Late one morning [in June], [in the thirty-first year of his life], a message was
brought [to Michael K] as he raked leaves [in De Waul Park].

Prepositions can be linked to a preceding verb, such as rely on and confide in.
You can't, you can't rely on any of that information.
She confided in him above all others.
These multi-word units are referred to as prepositional verbs.

Complex prepositions
Another set of prepositions consists of multi-word units known as complex
prepositions, which have a meaning that cannot be derived from the meaning of
the parts. Two-word complex prepositions normally end with a simple
preposition:
ending in examples
as such as
for as for, except for
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from apart from

of because of, instead of, out of, regardless of
to according to, due to, owing to
Three-word prepositions usually have the structure simple preposition + noun +
simple preposition:
ending in examples
of by means of, in spite of, on account of, on top of
to in addition to, with regard to
as as far as, as well as

As with many grammatical categories, there are borderline cases with

complex prepositions. It is not always clear whether a multi-word combination is a
complex preposition-that is, a fixed expression with a special meaning-or a free
combination of preposition ( + article) + noun + preposition. At the expense of is an
example of an in-between case.

1.5 Adverbial particles

Adverbial particles are a small group of words with a core meaning of motion.
The most important are: about, across, along, around, aside*, away*, back*, by,
down, forth*, home*, in, off; on, out, over, past, round, though, under, up. All of
these forms except those marked * can also be prepositions.
Adverbial particles are closely linked to verbs. They generally follow verbs,
and are closely bound to them in meaning: go away, come back, put (something)
on, etc. They are used to build phrasal verbs, such as the following:
Come on, tell me about Nick.
I just broke down in tears when I saw the letter.
Margotte rarely turned on the television set.

They are also used to build extended prepositional phrases, where a particle
precedes the preposition. For example:
We were going back to the hotel when it happened.

Adverbial particles have been called 'prepositional adverbs', because of their

resemblance to both prepositions (in form) and adverbs (in syntactic role). In
this book, however, they are treated as a distinct word class

1.6 Coordinators
There are two types of words traditionally called conjunctions in English:
coordinators (also called coordinating conjunctions), and subordinators (or
subordinating conjunctions), which are dealt with next, in 2.4.7.
Coordinators are used to indicate a relationship between two units such as
phrases or clauses. Coordinators link elements which have the same syntactic
role, and are at the same level of the syntactic hierarchy (see 2.1). Thus, in any
structure [X + coordinator + Y ] , X and Y are equivalent. (Compare this to
subordinators in the next section, which indicate that the following structure is
subordinate.) The main coordinators are and, but, and or. In the following
examples, the coordinated elements are marked by [I:
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[Mother] and [I] saw it. (CONV)

[I don't want to speak too soon], but [I think I have been fairly consistent
this season]. (NEWS)
Is this necessarily [good] or [bad]?
Or has a rather infrequently used negative counterpart, nor, which is used after
negative clauses:
[The donkeys did not come back], nor [did the eleven men], nor [did the
helicopter].
As this example shows, coordinators can be used to connect more than two
elements.

Correlative coordinators
Each simple coordinator can be combined with another word, to make a
correlative coordinator:
both [XI and [Y] either [XI or [Y]
not (only) [X] but (also) [Y] neither [X] nor [Y]
For example:
The couple were both [shoved] and [jostled].
It's yes or no, isn't it? Either [you agree with it] or [you don't agree with
it]. (NEWS)
We used not only [the colors reflected from mineral surfaces] but also [the
colors transmitted through minerals in microscopic thin sections].
Neither [Zack] nor [Jane] had slept that night, but they looked happy
anyway.

1.7 Subordinators
Subordinators (also called subordinating conjunctions) are linking words that
introduce clauses known as dependent clauses-clauses which cannot stand
alone without another clause, called the main clause:
You can hold her [if you want].
The subordinator shows the connection of meaning between the main clause and
the subordinate clause. In the above example, the subordinator if shows a relation of
'condition'.
In the case of coordination, explained in the last section, the two elements
have the same status. However, in the case of subordination, the dependent
clause starting with the subordinator is embedded (or included) in the main
clause. This can be shown by nested brackets [[]]:
[[As they watched,] a flash of fire appeared.]
[A flash of fire appeared [as they watched.]]
Notice the dependent clause can come at the front or at the end of the main
clause.
Subordinators fall into three major subclasses:
--The great majority of subordinators introduce adverbial clauses, adding
details of time, place, reason, etc. to the main clause: after, as, because, if, since,
although, while, etc.
-Three subordinators introduce degree clauses: as, than, that
-Three subordinators introduce complement clauses (or nominal clauses): if,
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that, whether.
The subordinators in the first two subclasses indicate meaning relationships such
as time, reason, condition, and comparison. The subordinators in the third
subclass are called complementizers because they introduce clauses following
verbs, adjectives or nouns, complementing or completing the meaning of these
key words in the main clause:
I'm glad [that I've found you again].
Sometimes he did not know [whether he was awake or asleep].
Dependent clauses can also be introduced by other forms, like wh-words and
the relative pronoun that. These are not subordinators.
-
Complex subordinators
Like prepositions, subordinators may consist of more than one word. Most of
these complex subordinators end with as or that (often the that is optional, as
shown by parentheses ( ) below):
ending in examples
as as long as, as soon as
that given (that), on condition (that), provided (that), except (that), in
that, in order that, so (that), such (that)
others as if, as though, even if, even though

2-Special classes of words

few classes of function words have special qualities: wh-words, existential

there, the negator not, the infinitive marker to, and numerals.

2-1Wh-words
Wh words, like subordinators, introduce clauses. However, wh-words do not
form an independent word class. Instead, they are members of word classes
already mentioned, especially determiners, pronouns, and adverbs. As their name
suggests, wh-words begin with wh, with the single exception of how. They are
used in two main ways: at the beginning of an interrogative clause, and at the
beginning of a relative clause. Two further uses are at the beginning of a

A- Introducing an interrogative clause

What do they want? (FICT) Which one do you mean?
When are you leaving? (FICT) Why should I care? (conv)

Interrogative wh-words can be:

-interrogative pronouns: who, whom, what, which
-interrogative determiners: what, which, whose
-interrogative adverbs: when, where, how, why

B- introducing a relative clause

1 the kind of person [who needs emotional space] NEWS^)
2 Graham Poole, [whose grandfather started the place in 18951 NEWS^)
3 a small place [where everyone knows everyone else] (NEWS?)
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Relativizers can be:

- relative pronouns: who, whom, which, that
-relative determiners: which, whose
-relative adverbs: where, when, why

Relative pronouns stand for a noun phrase, as in 1 above, where who refers back
to the kind of person. Relative determiners occur before the noun, as in 2 above
(whose grandfather) or in the phrase by which time. Relative adverbs are used to
refer to times (when), reasons (why), or places (where), as in 3 above (where
refers back to a small place).

C Introducing a complement clause (complementizers)

I don't know [what I would have done without her]. (NEWS)
I give them [whatever I have in my pocket]. (NEWS)
Vada wonders [where she stands in her father's affections]. (NEWS)
D-adverbial clause links
1 They could not improve upon that, [whatever they might say].
2 [However they vary], each formation comprises a distinctive set of rock
layers. (ACAD)
In adverbial clauses as in 1 and 2, wh-words combined with -ever express the
meaning 'it doesn't matter what/when/where/. . .'. (Compare subordinators like if
and when in 2.4.7 above.)
Finally, the word whether is versatile: it is used as a subordinator (see 2.4.7)
but it can also be classed as a wh-word.
2.2 Single-word classes
The three words considered in this group are special in that they are each unique,
grammatically, and do not fit into any other class. That is, they form single-word
classes.
A-Existential there is often called an anticipatory subject. No other word in English
behaves in the same way, heading a clause expressing existence:
There's a mark on this chair.
There were four bowls of soup.
There are no trains on Sundays.
Existential there should not be confused with the place adverb there.

B-The negator not is in some ways like an adverb, but in other respects it is unique.
The main use of not (and its reduced form n't) is to make a clause negative.
You can do this but [you can't do that].
(Note the spelling of can't = can + n't.) Apart from negating whole clauses, not
has various other negative uses (as in not all, not many, not very, etc.).

C -The infinitive marker to

The infinitive marker to is another unique word (not to be confused with the
common preposition to). Its chief use is as a complementizer preceding the
infinitive (base) form of verbs.
What do you want to drink?
I'm just happy to be here right now.
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In addition, infinitive to occurs as part of two complex subordinators expressing

purpose: in order to and so as to:
You don't have to live under the same laws as a foreigner in order to trade
with him.
Each has the job of writing his chapter so as to make the novel being
constructed the best it can be.
d. Numerals
Numerals form a rather self-contained area of English grammar. As a word class,
numerals consist of a small set of simple forms (one, two, five, etc.), and a large
set of more complex forms which can be built up from the simple forms (e.g.
three million eight hundred and fifty-five thousand four hundred and eighteen,
3,855,418).
They are most commonly used in the role of determiners or heads in noun
phrases. There are two parallel sets of numerals, cardinals and ordinals.
A-Cardinals
Cardinal numerals answer the question 'How many?' and are most commonly
used like determiners, with a following noun:
Four people were arrested.
However, cardinals also occur as heads of noun phrases:
Four of the yen traders have pleaded guilty.
In their nounlike use, cardinals can be made plural by adding -(e)s:
Cops in twos and threes huddle and smile at me with benevolence.
Damage is estimated at hundreds of millions of pounds.
B-Ordinal numerals
Ordinal numerals answer the question 'Which?' and serve to place entities in
order or in a series: first, second, third, etc. Similar to cardinals, they can be used
either like determiners, before a noun:
I was doing my third week as a young crime reporter and had just about
finished my second and last story of the day when the phone rang. (FICT)
or like nouns, as head of a noun phrase:
Three men will appear before Belfast magistrates today on charges of
intimidation. A fourth will be charged with having information likely to be
of use to terrorists. The fifth, a woman, was remanded on the same charge
yesterday.
Ordinals are also used to form fractions. Treated as regular nouns, ordinals such
as fifth, tenth, and hundredth can take a plural -s ending:
Probably two thirds of the people who live here now are not natives.

The pupil can identify the place value of a column or a digit for values of
tenths, hundredths and thousandths.